The present invention broadly relates to a sealing arrangement and, more specifically, to a new and improved sealing arrangement having an annular, elastically deformable seal. The present invention also relates to the employment of such a new and improved sealing arrangement.
Generally speaking, the sealing arrangement of the present invention comprises an annular elastically deformable seal having end sealing surfaces, through which seal a free-flowing medium, in particular water, flows.
Such sealing arrangements are known, for example, from the manufacture of fittings and fixtures as well as from the installation and plumbing work for water distribution plants in houses, buildings and the like. Sealing arrangements can be employed or utilized wherever two openings aligned to each other in the direction of flow, such two openings being limited or defined by the sealing surfaces arranged parallel to each other, have to be sealed.
In such sealing arrangements known to the art there are normally employed 0-rings or annular seals having, for example, a rectangular cross-section, the end sealing surfaces of which bear at the sealing surfaces limiting the two openings. In such sealing arrangements the seal must be held under a considerable pressure exerted in the axial direction in order that the end sealing surfaces adequately and sufficiently seal.
Annular lip seals are also known by means of which good sealing conditions can be achieved even at relatively small axial biasing forces. These lip seals possess inwardly projecting thin-walled lips which are arranged in the region of the end surfaces or end faces and are pressed, depending on the pressure of the medium, against the sealing surfaces which limit or define the two openings.
Water faucets are also known which comprise a lower part and an upper part, such upper part being screwed or threaded, up to a stop or detent, into this lower part. In the upper part there is non-rotatably arranged a disk or plate having a throughpass opening, and a rotary disk also provided with a throughpass opening is rotatably mounted to bear at the non-rotatable disk or plate. The rotary disk is rotatable by means of an actuating element such that the throughpass opening of the rotary disk can be brought into and out of an overlapping relationship with the throughpass opening of the non-rotatable disk or plate. As viewed in the direction of flow of the medium, there is arranged upstream of the non-rotatable disk or plate an annular seal having a rectangular cross-section. This annular seal bears with the one end sealing surface thereof at the non-rotatable disk or plate and is supported with its other end sealing surface at a sealing surface of the lower part. The annular seal must now be able to compensate for manufacturing tolerances of the distance or spacing between the non-rotatable disk or plate and the sealing surface of the lower part. On the other hand, even in the case of the largest possible spacing or distance, the annular seal must be so strongly compressed that the non-rotatable disk or plate is pressed against the rotary disk with a sufficiently large force in order that the closed faucet is tight or leak-proof. This requires a dimensioning of the annular seal which, in the case of a minimum distance between the non-rotatable disk or plate and the sealing surface of the lower part, could lead to a permanent deformation of the annular seal made of rubber. Furthermore, the non-rotatable disk or plate is thereby pressed against the rotary disk by means of a force far greater than actually necessary. This can lead to a mutual pitting or erosion between the rotary disk and the non-rotatable disk or plate, such that the functional efficiency of the faucet is no longer ensured.